Sony's sending a lot of PlayStation Vita systems out for Japan's launch this weekend.

Today we've got a better idea of just how well the PlayStation Vita is going to sell out of the gate, with Andriasang reporting that the system's opening shipment could exceed a whopping 700,000 units. That's big.

The news comes via Mainichi Digital, in which columnist Fumio Kurokawa claimed that he'd heard the shipment number from a variety sources. Apparently Sony initially intended to send out 500,000 units at launch, but due to demand it's upped the number to 700,000.

We'll get a more detailed picture of the system's sales when PlayStation Vita launches tomorrow (!!!) in Japan.